Rudy Baum

Rudy Baum is Editor-in-chief of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, and a member of the ACS Publications Division executive team.[1] Rudy Baum has also led the fight against Open Access publishing.

In 2004, he wrote an editorial in Chemical & Engineering Newsagainst "open access advocates." The editorial was titled "Socialized Science."[2] "Their unspoken crusade is to socialize all aspects of science, putting the federal government in charge of funding science, communicating science, and maintaining the archive of scientific knowledge. If that sounds like a good idea to you, then NIH's open-access policy should suit you just fine."

In June 2006, he wrote another editorial against Open Access, this one titled "Take a Stand."[3] He wrote, "As a member of the ACS Publications Division executive team, I am very familiar with the tremendous effort, expense, and human resources that are poured into producing the finest chemistry journals and databases in the world....If you care about the future of ACS publishing operations—indeed, if you care about the timely and accurate dissemination of the scientific literature—I urge you to contact Sen. Collins and your state's senators to oppose [Open Access]."

In October 2007, The Scientist reported on an anonymous email claiming that executive bonuses at ACS were linked to publishing profits. The article states, "Baum declined to say whether his bonuses were linked to publishing profits...."[4] The article continues, "Several former ACS employees contacted by The Scientist, who wished to remain anonymous, said that while they were employees at the ACS, it was well known that upper level managers got bonuses that were linked to publishing profits. Sylvia Ware, former director of the ACS education division, declined to comment about bonus practice at the society."

Days later, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that ACS Executive Director, Madeleine Jacobs "did confirm that senior executives and some managers in the publishing division have a 'small portion' of their overall incentive compensation 'based on meeting certain financial targets.' She did not agree that such incentive pay, however small, represented a conflict of interest in the group's opposition to open-access legislation and called such argument 'spurious.'"[5]

On April 28, 2008, Vanity Fair Daily reported that Rudy Baum was behind the ouster of a journalist who reported on the Weinberg Group.[6] On September 17, 2009, this was confirmed in an article that ran in Nature.